Bisons win Keystone Cup, earn top Junior ‘B’ spot in Western Canada

The Wainwright Jr. ‘B’ Bisons made Wainwright hockey history when they became the first Wainwright team to ever win a Western Canadaian Championship. The Bisons defeated the Beaver Valley Nitehawks 4-3 in overtime on Sunday, April 16, to win the Keystone Cup and complete the championship trifecta with a league title, Provincial championship and Western Canadian chapmionship.

The Wainwright Jr. ‘B’ Bisons completed their most successful season in history on Sunday, April 16, with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks to win the top honours for Junior ‘B’ hockey in western Canada.

Wainwright will be home to the Keystone Cup, the Russ Barnes Trophy and the North East Alberta Junior ‘B’ Hockey League championship trophy for the coming year, after the Bisons cemented their spot atop the Junior ‘B’ hockey world in an exciting and historic postseason run.

The Bisons opened up the tournament with their first round robin game against the Nitehawks. The opening game was played to a 3-3 tie, as the tournament’s top two teams got a good look at each other early on in the tournament, which was hosted in Arborg, Manitoba.

The Bisons’ next test was a morning game against the Nipigon Elks on Friday, April 14, but they passed that test with flying colours on their way to a 9-2 victory. Later that evening, the Bisons picked up another one-sided win against the host Arborg Ice Dawgs with a 5-0 to earn goaltender Cade Spencer his only shutout of the tournament.

Wainwright had another two-game day on Saturday. They started the morning with a game against the Peguis Juniors, which ended in another draw with a 5-5 final score. And in the evening, the Bisons put up a 2-1 victory over the Extreme Hockey Regina Capitals to earn themselves a spot in the gold medal game.

Most teams in the tournament played the majority of their roster each game throughout the busy week. But that’s where the Bisons’ depth really came into play. Six games in four days is a tall order for players who post top-line minutes, so the Bisons used their entire roster throughout the week, resting players in different games to conserve energy and save their best for last. The strategy came through in the gold medal game when the Bisons faced off with the Nitehawks for the second time in the tournament.

Beaver Valley found the scoreboard first in the gold medal game with a goal 12 minutes into regulation. But the Bisons offence struck just three minutes later with a goal from Chandler Klein, assisted by Bryce Woodward.

Wainwright would take a 3-1 lead after the second period after goals from Kobe Scott and the tournament’s leading scorer Taylor Schubada.

But the Nitehawks scored two quick goals early in the third period to tie the game, where it remained until the end of regulation. As they had done in the home-ice clinching game at the end of the regular season, the NEAJBHL championship-winning game and the Provincials-winning game, the Bisons had to play into overtime for a chance at the title.

It took 16 minutes and 55 seconds of overtime hockey including a two-minute penalty kill, but Woodward lifted the Bisons to the top of the Junior ‘B’ hockey world with his overtime and Western Canadian Junior ‘B’ Championship winning goal, sending his team and community full of hockey fans into jubilation.

“It was amazing. I feel absolutely almost teary-eyed… These kids are called the heart attack kids for a reason, and I don’t think anyone else could go through this winning three championships in overtime,” head coach Adam Huxley said.

“My emotion level isn’t about my own personal excitement, but it’s about what the kids did to earn all of this.”

Huxley said the competition level was as tough as they expected, but after being underrepresented and overlooked for NEAJBHL league awards and other recognitions, they took that motivation and used it to drive themselves to a Western Canadian Championship.

“It was still competition. With some of the eastern teams, we’ve seen better. But they gave everything they’ve got, and they were good. The Saskatchewan and B.C. teams were some of the best teams I’ve ever seen in the last few years. But that just goes to show how good we are. We went in there and these teams looked at us like we were a bunch of hicks from Wainwright, but I think every time they ate their words,” he said.

“We went in there with an ‘us against the world’ attitude, which we have all year. We fought adversity all year. We have a great league, but we just won the Western Championship, and we had one player on the First Team All-Star team and a few on the second team in our league.

“In our league, we get no recognition for awards and all that, but we used that as ammunition to win our league, and then we go to Provincials and we win Provincials, and then we go to Westerns and they overlook us because we’re a small town and all that, and then we go and beat these bigger teams and we shocked western Canada with that.”

But beyond the coaching decisions, clutch overtime performance and deep-seeded motivation, Huxley said it was the bond amongst teammates that played a huge role in the Bisons’ success this season.

“They’re such a tight-knit group of kids. It’s almost emotional talking about how tight knit they are, and that’s the only way you win this kind of stuff. You can be the most talented team ever, but if you don’t have that bond, it’s not going to take you far,” he said.

“The managerial side was awesome too… We had the best parent group we’ve ever seen. Our parents rented a hall and every meal was right after the game and on schedule. It was a finely tuned machine. The kids are the most important, but the parents were unbelievable. At the end of the day after all the little details we put in all year long, it ended up winning us a championship.”